Waiting
by Festus aka Happy
Summary: While Percy and Annabeth are in the Labyrinth Annabeth gets very hurt. In Percy's POV watch how he handles with this devastating situation.
The worst part wasn't watching her almost die. It was wondering if she was ever going to wake up.

When I watched Annabeth fall of that cliff I felt like a piece of me died. It was the worst feeling I could have ever imagined. Annabeth and I were following the spider, she was staying a little behind because of her fear of spiders. I turned to face her to make sure she wasn't to far behind.

Right as I turned to her I saw her face melt into a terrifying gaze behind me. I turned and almost fainted at the sight of a gigantic _empousa_ standing above me with a sword above her head ready to slice me in half. The next thing I know Annabeth pushes me out of the way before the _empousa_ strikes down on me. The _empousa_ starts to chase Annabeth around the Labyrinth.

Annabeth is now in front of a wall and is blocked. The _empousa_ gets ready to strike but when she does Annabeth dives and the _empousa_ makes a huge hole in the wall. I am so amazed about how Annabeth managed to dive out of the way and not get cut. My thoughts are broken when I hear a scream from behind me.

My worst fear was just realized. The sword was laced with poison and Annabeth had gotten cut. I turn around and see the _empousa_ hurl Annabeth off the cliff. The next thing I know I hurl my sword at the _empousa_ and she vanishes in yellow dust. I run to the cliff and am relieved to see that Annabeth grabbed onto a branch, but I can tell she is fading. I jump of the edge bringing the ocean towards her.

I managed to get Annabeth all the way back to the camp without her fading. I have her in my arms running through the camp trying to get her to the big house. Soon there are people surrounding us and she is rushed to the big house. It seemed like forever before Chiron came outside to announce how she was doing. " She is doing well, but has not woken up. We have done all we can for her. It is all up to her now."

After that I spent almost every day sitting next to her. The time I don't spend glued to her side I am in the sword arena trying to figure out the move I pulled on the _empousa_. It was a perfect move and I have know idea how I did it. I tried for 3 hours before other people had to use it for their training.

At dinner that night I barely touched my food. I felt Riptide in my pocket and right after I touched the sword I felt like I did when Annabeth was hurled off the cliff. So after dinner I went to check on Annabeth.

"How's she doing?" Chiron was standing in the corner watching her for any signs of anything. "She surviving." I felt dread fill my body when he said that. "I'm afraid that the poison was circulating through her bloodstream had has started to burn away had her organs. It might have damaged vital organs that she needs to survive. It's only a matter of time before it spreads to her heart."

When he said that I wanted to crawl under a rock and never come out. "So you're saying she's dying?" "I'm afraid...yes." I couldn't handle it at that point I went to the beach and had the biggest break down ever.

I stayed there the rest of night and 2 more day. I kept looking at my sword. "You're going to have to come take a shower someday." I heard someone say walking down to sit next to me. "Hey Grover." "You ok. Chiron just told us the news." "I feel like it's all my fault. Like I could have saved her if I did something." "It's not your fault. She made the courageous decision to save you. She's dying a hero."

Maybe he's right, but I still felt guilty. "Can you help me do something?" Grover looked at me suspiciously. I finally convinced him to help. "I need help figuring out how to do a sword trick." "Ok, let's get started." I told him how I hurled the sword and how I don't know how I did it. We went to the sword arena and he told me to focus on the feeling I had when I hurled it.

I gripped Riptide and imagined the scene over again. I felt sweat pouring down my face and I start to breath heavy. I started to grip the sword harder and harder. Then a burst of power comes from my arm and I hurl the sword into a dummy. I open my eyes and see Grover and everybody else staring at me.

" You did it Percy! You just have to think of that exact moment and you can do it!" "I did it? Really?" I do it a couple more times just to try to perfect it.

I get ready to leave the the area when an Apollo kid runs towards us yelling. "She's awake!" When I hear that I bolt to the big house with everyone else. When we get there, there is already tons of kids in front of the house. Chiron is trying to control everybody and keep them calm. " Please, everybody calm down." He gets everybody to be quiet and then sees me. "Percy, you go see her first." I could feel everyone's gaze set on me. People make a path to the stairs and walk to the stairs.

I walk to her room and I realize I'm sweating, a lot. I walk in and look at her. Suddenly I feel a relief wash over me. She looks fine and seems like herself. "Hey" I say trying to stay calm.

"Hi" her voice is scratchy and I can tell she is holding back pain. "You are an idiot." I say with a little laughter in my voice. "Thanks, I think we established that when I pushed you out of the way of getting killed." "Thank you for that." "No problem, I almost died, but whatever." "I don't mean it like that." "I know I'm kidding." She was definitely herself which was good.

I sat next to her bed and we started talking. Later Chiron came in and said that I missed dinner at that it was time to go back to my cabin. Neither of us realized that we talked for like 3 hours. He left and I got up to leave. Before I was to far away Annabeth grabbed my hand and pulled me closer. "You owe me big time." We stared into each others eyes for a minute before I said "How's this for now?" Then, before I lost the courage, I kissed her.

When I kissed her I felt like 100 volts of electricity were going through my body. After it was over I held in my excitement in and left. There were still people outside the house and looked at me weird when I came out with a day dreamy look on my face. Grover came up to me and asked " How is she?" "She's ok." My voice trailing off. "What's with the smile?" "Uhhh… nothing." "That's not nothing. What happened?" " I kissed her." I whispered it so no one else would hear. "What?!" His mouth fell open as I told about it." Without thinking I shouted"You have to keep it a secret!" "Fine." He said glumly and walked off.

The next day I had a smile on my face all day. Our kiss kept playing back in my head and I never wanted it to stop. I was in my cabin when Chiron knocked on the door. "Percy I want to talk to you about something." "Ok. What about?" " Well, do you remember when we were talking about how Annabeth was going to die?' "Yes. Is she still dying!" "Thankfully no. At least we think the poison has moved out of her blood. She may get sick sometime, but for now she is healthy and recovering." " Oh, thank the gods." I felt like a gigantic weight was lifted of my shoulders." But she still is very weak we need to keep a close eye on her at all times."

Over the next 2 months Annabeth got stronger. She had a scar on her stomach from where the sword had cut her. Other than that she was fine. People soon figured out that we were dating by me spending so much time with her. Grover of course had told some people.

Annabeth was ok, which was all that mattered to me, but we still had to think about Kronos's army. It was growing fast and we had to do something about it. We decided to have missions that would slow down the process of getting more titans and monsters to join the Kronos's side. After we made most of the plans we were done for the day. I was standing in the water where I could think easily. "Hey" I turned and saw Annabeth walking towards me. "What's up?" Annabeth walked into the ocean next to me. "I saw you walk down. I was wondering if you wanted company?" "Yes I would." I grabbed her hand and we stood together ready for what was coming.


End file.
